Drying-machine.



J. S. JOHNSTON.

' Patented Feb. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET INVENTOR UAMES s- JOHNSTON- ATTORNEY Patente Feb. 19, 1918.

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WITNESSES /KXQALKV INVENTOR W %%m1/ dAMES 8.'J0)/N6TON ATTORNEY FTQE.

JAMES S. JOHNSTON, 0F UTICA, NEW YORK.

DRYING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 19, 1918.

Application filed March 21, 1913. Serial No. 755,828.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES S. J oHxs'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Utica, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drying-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, efiicient device for aiding in drawing a fabric up over a hot air pipe, whereby the said fabric may be passed on to a drying and stretching frame and thence accumulated upon a roll or disposed in a box in such manner that the wales of the fabric will be parallel with the axis of the roll and the fabric itself free from twists.

This object will be apparent from the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical elevation of a drying machine, showing parts broken away;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of a ring and arm employed, the arm being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a fragment of the drying machine shown in Fig. 1, the view being taken on the line 18-18 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a View of a box or wire basket employed, showing one end of the same removed;

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view of the upper portion of the frame, illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective detail view of a roller and cams employed;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view of a device for changing the velocity of rotation of the roller 75 shown in Figs. 1 and 8.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail view in plan of a variable gear employed;

Fig. 9 is a detail view of the drier or spreader employed, showing a front view, parts being broken away;

Fig. 10 is a detail view of the spreader illustrated in Figs. 1 and 9, showing a side view, parts being broken away;

Fig. 11 is a detail plan view of a chain employed;

Fig. 12 is a detail plan view of a resilient ring or spring coil employed;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary view in section of the upper end of a hot air pipe, employed, showing the manner of assembling the bolt that holds the stretching frame in place;

Fig. 14 is a detail plan view of a'bar employed;

Fig. 15 is an enlarged detail view of the lower portion of the stretching frame employed;

Fig. 16 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a spring coil employed on the lower portion of the stretching frame;

Fig. 17 is a plan view of the top portion of the drying and stretching frame.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the device embodies a frame -1- described more fully in the application filed by me Sept. 11, 1911, and numbered serially 648,7 31. However, in place of winding the fabric 23 upon an accumulating roller, as in the above referred to application, the fabric is folded into a box or wire basket 60. The frame 1 for this purpose, supports a rod 61, upon which are fulcrumed the arms 6262. The arms 62 pivotally support in a depending manner at their outer extremities, the other arms 63--63 having the long narrow slots 61 for the adjustable mounting of the rod or spindle 65 to which is tightly held or keyed at each end adjacent the arms 63, the sprocket 66 and the spur gear 67, respectively. The spur gear 67 meshes with the rack gear 68 formed on the outer end of the arm 69 fulcrumed upon the rod 70, journaled in suitable bearings in the frame --1-. The rod 70 has keyed thereon adjacent the frame 1, a sprocket 71 connected by a sprocket chain 72 with the sprocket 73 keyed to the rod 71 of the roller 75, which is revolved by the variable gear 76, keyed to the outer or opposite end of the rod 74. The variable gear 76 is in mesh with the spur gear 78 formed integral with the sleeve 82, which is slidingly mounted upon the spindle 79 and prevented from turning independently thereof by means of the plugs 80-80, that project into the longitudinal frame l, whereby the gear 78 is held in mesh with the teeth 87-88 or 89 of the variable gear 76, orin between the said teeth, as at 90 or 91, whereby the roller 75 will lie at rest. The gear 78 and'likewise the spindie 79 will be revolved by means of the sprocket chain 92 connecting the sprocket wheel 93, secured to the upper end of the spindle 79, and the sprocket wheel 94 keyed to the shaft 95 carrying the bevel gear 96, which is in mesh with the bevel pinion 97, keyed to the shaft 98. The shaft 98 is revolved by means of the pulley 99, which is fixed to the said shaft. 7

The top bar 3 of the drying and stretching frame projects upward a little beyond the rollers 113 and 140, and is connected in a detachable manner by the rods 4-4 which, pass through suitable apertures in the bar 3, to the ring 5, the nuts 6 being used. The rods 4 are bent down close to the surface of the bar 3, for the easy progressive movement of the fabric. The ring 5 is united or connected to the lower ring 7 by the rods 8, which are assembled likewise by means of the nuts 9. The lower ring 7 has sufficient thickness to provide an annular groove 11 adapted for the reception of a resilient member or coiled spring 12, whose ends are united by the solder 13. An endless chain 25 is disposed within the coiled spring 12, whereby to limit the degree of elasticity of said spring. The ring 7 is connected by the rods 14 to a ring 15 of smaller diameter than the ring 7 and situated above the said ring 7. The rods 14 are assembled in a detachable manner to the rings 7 and 15 by the nuts 16. The ring 15 supports in a depending manner, the bolt 17 having a toe 18 at its lower end adapted to be engaged or housed in a circular socket or recess 19 in the cross piece 20, which is secured at either en d'to the upper portion of the hot air pipe 21. The base of the socket 19 is elevated at 22 to form a projection, upon which the lower end of the bolt 17 may easily turn, when the parts are assembled.

The means for aiding in drawing the fabric 23 up over the pipe 21 embodies the cams 112-112 formed upon the roller 113, held to the rod 114 having the bearings in the frame 1. The rod 114 and simis larly the roller 113 are revolved by the gears 115 and 116, the gear 115 being keyed to the 7 rod 114 and in mesh with the gear 116 keye to th o t r en of he d .74 of he roller 75, which is revolved as heretofore described. The cams 112-112 are grooved at 117-117 for the reception of the correspond- 120120. The arms 120 are telescoped to r the hollow members 121-121, and are prevented from separating therefrom, by means of the collars 122, secured to the arms 120 and the shoulders 1230f the hollow members 121. The lower ends of the members 121 support a ring 124, which is provided with the clips 125, whose free ends have a certain given resiliency, whereby to bear against the fabric 23, as the same comes up over the pipe 21. The revolving of the roller 1:13 and the cams 112, causes a vertical reciprocating motion to the clips 125, which on their upward movement, pull the fabric 23 up the pipe 21, as seen in the folded I dotted lines in Fig. 1. The clips 125 slide over the fabric 23 on their downward mo tion. r s

The operation is as follows: The cloth 23 is'drawn up manually over the top bar 3 of the spreader frame andthen disposed over the roller 7 5, F romthe roller 75, the cloth 23 is disposed over the center rod 100 of the frame 101, which is pivotallymounted to the lower ends of the arms 6363, and then down between the rods 100 and 102. The end of the cloth 23 is secured under either weight 103-103, which is fastened to a frame 104 having the ends 105105, that are vertically slidable in the sleeves 106-106 fixed to the bottom of the box .or wire basket 60. 1

The mechanism is started to revolve the pulley 99, whereby to turn the roller 75, the gears 116, 115 and the roller 113, which through the cams 112 will vertically reciprocate the clips 125 to aid in drawing the fabric 23 up the pipe 21 through which hot air or steam is applied.

Simultaneously, with the revolution ofthe roller 75, the rod 70 will turn because of its connections by means of the sprocket wheels 71 and 73 and the sprocket chain 72 The turning of the rod 70 will effect a turning of the mutilated gear wheel 129' which meshes with the upper rack and then the lower rack of the member 128, whereby to reciprocate the arm 127 and consequently 62, which pivotallysupport the arms 63, V,

will move somewhat on their fulcrum, the rod 61, whereby to compensate for any variation in altitude-of the rods 107 and 108 of V the frame 101, with reference to the bottom of the box 60. The said arms 62 are prevented, however, from falling below a given distance by the pins 150-150 secured to each side of the frame -1.

As the frame 101 is reciprocated by the arms 63, the same will rock, also upon the rod 100 as a fulcrum,whereby first one rod 107 and then the other 107 will push alternately the fabric 23 under the weights 103, whose lower edges 103 are beveled for the purpose. The rocking of the frame 101 will be effected because of the gear wheel 66 which is mounted to turn with the shaft whose ends have bearings in the elongated recesses 64 of the arms 63, as explained, and a loose bearing in the end of the arm 127. The shaft 65, in turn, will be revolved alternately in opposite directions by the gear wheel 67, which is fixed to turn with said shaft 65, and meshes with the rack 68 of arm 69, as the arms 63 swing back and forth under the influence of the arm 127. The rotation of the shaft 65 will be communicated to the frame 101 by means of the sprocket chain 11 connecting the sprocket wheel 66 of the shaft 65 and the sprocket wheel 110 mounted to turn with the frame 101.

The are in which the frame 101 moves may be adjusted by moving the rod 65 with relation to the slots 64 of the arms 63.

hen the boX 60 is filled with the fabric 23, the covers 130-130 are closed and the box replaced by an empty one.

The brackets 141 having elongated bearings are employed for mounting the roller 140, which will aid in holding the fabric 23 in position, as it comes up over the roller 75.

It will be noted, that the gearing of the machine is disposed in the casing portion of the frame 1, whereby the oil or lubricant applied to the said gear wheels will not drip upon and stain the fabric 23.

The mechanism illustrated for drawing the fabric 23 up the pipe 21, may be disposed so as to draw the fabric up the stretching frame, in which event chains will be used in place of the arms 120 and the hollow members 121.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a drying machine, an accumulating device, a stretching frame, means for detach-ably securing said stretching frame to a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended below said accumulating device, and means for vertically reciprocating said ring having clips, whereby to aid in drawing the fabric up over the said pipe.

2. In a drying machine, an accumulating device, a stretching frame, means for detachably securing said stretching frame to the upper edge of a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended below said accumulating device, and cams for Vertically reciproeating said ring having clips, whereby to aid in drawing a fabric up over said pipe.

3. In a drying machine, an accumulating device, a stretching frame, means for detachably securing said the upper portion of a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspending below said accumulating device, revoluble cams, and rings having arms, whereby to vertically reciprocate said ring having clips to aid in drawing a fabric up over said pipe.

4. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended about said hot air pipe and adapted to engage the surface of a fabric, cams, and rings having arms engaging said cams, whereby to vertically reciprocate said ring having clips to aid in dr wing said fabric up over said pipe.

5. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended about said hot air pipe and adapted to engage the surface of a fabric, cams, rings engaging said cams, arms attached to said rings, hollow members slidingly mounted to said arms, said hollow members supporting said ring having clips, and means for revolving said cams, whereby to vertically reciprocate said ring having clips to aid in drawing said fabric up said pipe.

6. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring suspended about said hot air pipe, clips secured to said ring in a manner to give a certain resiliency to their free ends, hollowmembers for supporting said ring, arms mounted to said hollow members, rings integral with the upper ends of said arms, cams, means for holding said rings to said cams, and means for revolving said cams, whereby to vertically reciprocate said ring having clips to aid in pulling a fabric up over said pipe.

7. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended about said hot air pipe and adapted to engage a fabric, cams for vertically reciprocating said ring having clips, whereby to aid the same in drawing said fabric up said pipe, means for stretching said fabric after the same has been drawn up over said pipe, and means for disposing said fabric in a box after the same has been stretched.

8. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended about said hot air pipe and adapted to engage a fabric, a roller, cams secured to said roller, means for connecting said ring having clips to said cams, means for revolving said roller and cams, whereby to vertically reciprocate said ring to draw said fabric up said pipe, and means for folding said fabric.

9. In a drying machine, a hot air pipe, a ring having clips suspended about said hot air pipe and adapted to engage the surface of a fabric, cams, grooves in the peripheries stretching frame to of said cams, rings having means engagmg said cams, whereby to vertically reclprocate said ring havlngchps to aid in drawing said fabric up said pipe and projections on said rings having arms, adapted to encopies of 11. In a dryin machine, a hot air pipe, chps to aid in crawing a fabric up over said pipe, a stretching frame, and means for 15 JAMES S. JOHNSTON.

Witnesses SAMUEL SLOAN, T. L. WILDER.

this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

